Lady Bug Circus

Summer Vacation

This year I am taking my summer vacation one Sunday at a time. It's great. Discovery Park is a great place for walking along tails through the tall trees , or

along the bluff.

Chicago

Last week I had the opportunity to drive a para-transit van from one end of Chicago to the other. I saw so many beautiful sights from the driver's seat. Unable to take any snap shots of them at the time I will just have to return some day. The few shots I did get were of liquor store signs. There were so many I liked.

If you ever have the chance to see Chicago, I hope you do. There is a lot to love about that city.

Weekend in Vancouver BC

It's the little things that caught my attention mostly. The small differences from what I am accustomed to seeing at home. Thanks to Sedora's previous trips there and Nancy's excellent mapping skills I saw more of Vancouver than I have ever seen.

We ate foods I'd never enjoyed before.

And some I have. There are thousands of cafes and coffee joints.

Every neighborhood seems to have at least one store with an outdoor fruit and vegetable display.

Some signs were hard to intepret.

La Casa Gelato.This place was amazing. 218 different flavours of gelato- curry, garlic, balsamic vinegar, pear and Gorgonzola, avocado, and lemon rosemary to name a few. Free taste of any flavours you'd like.

This is the owner being interviewed by Sedora and Nancy. Kerrie H. and I were reading the letter from Martha  Stewart on the wall.

Not sure if this is public art or vandalism.

Mostly we shopped at thrift stores (got some great tin) but we did go to a gallery that was showing Pieter Hugo's photography of the Hyena Men in Africa. I loved what a mix it is. People everywhere speaking languages I didn't understand and cafes serving foods I wasn't familiar with.The people were very friendly with us and interested in talking politics. One woman said that in school, history class was just about how our history effects theirs. It was a great couple of days and I want to go back.

Doing Laundry at Academia Falcon

The sun is shining in the Great Northwest today and signs of spring are everywhere. One of the things I'm looking forward to is line drying the laundry. Line dried sheets smell so good. Behind the shed in the back yard is where the lines are and it's one of my favorite places to sit. It's like an outdoor room with 3 sides with a garden view. Okay so where is all this going? My sister gave me discs of her photographs of our trip to Guanajuato and I'd like to show you where we did our laundry there.

This is the top of the stairs, just looking at it makes my hands sweat.

Not wanting to carry my dry laundry down the scary stairs, my sister went up and threw my clothes to me one at a time. It was really fun to look up and see the sun lit pieces falling though the air. I miss GTO so much.

Almost finished with Guanajuato photos...

ETN Buses are the best and well worth the little extra you pay.There are big roomy seats, a very nice rest room, head sets for the movies and curtains. The lunches they provide aren't so great. A ham and cheese sandwich with a packet of chili sauce and your choice of beverage, no cookie.

I

                                                                                          

I love this fire escape.

This creek runs past the Don Quixote school and I came across it on the way to where Sedora was staying.

There are Internet "cafes" about every 4 blocks or less in some areas of town. 3 or 4 pesos buys you a half hour or so.

The Jardine from above. I am wondering if I stop looking at my photographs of Guanajuato if this deep longing will subside, I hope.

Just a Few More Photographs of Guanajuato

It's still so hard to be home because I am wanting to be back in Guanajuato.

My sister, uncharacteristically, hamming it up for the camera.

      

Silver Jewelry in Guanajuato

There are lots of places to buy silver jewelry in Guanajuato. Just about every shop has some, there are women in the Jardine who walk around with open boxes full and tables set up in alleys. One shop in particular was my all time favorite. The sad thing is, if a fellow student hadn't mentioned it to my sister, I may have missed it all together.                            

Meet Gabriel Anaya Barba, the artist and shop keeper of Corazon De Plata (Silver Heart). He makes and sells beautiful silver jewelry and also sells some of what his friends and his teacher make. It is all original and quite irresistible. He moved to his new location 4 months ago from Valencia.

My last evening in Guanajuato I spent time in Gabriel's shop getting to know him a little. He showed me the tools he uses to make his jewelry. They are pieces of cars that he has modified to make the perfect tools. He then showed me how they work and gave me a flat silver bird to remember him by. I then showed him my tin snips and cut up some tin and showed him how I make a bird. Gabriel doesn't speak English and of course my limited Spanish doesn't include the vocabulary I needed for talking about tools. So drawings seemed to work in this case and I wish I had taken a photograph of them.

The bracelets on the glass shelf are made with pieces of broken talavera ( Mexican ceramic plates) and come in a variety of colors. Now that is excellent recycling.

                                                                               

My photographs just don't do the jewelry justice.   I hope when you go to Guanajuato that you will look up Gabriel and see the jewelry for yourself.   

His shop is across the street and a tad south of the stairs to the University.  Actual address is,     Lascurain de Retana No. 2       Col.Centro C.P. 36000     Guanajuato, Gto. Mexico                                 (Frenta al Templo de la Compania) ph.119.5597     His shop maybe called the Silver Heart but Gabriel has a heart of gold. 

See updated post  about Corazon De Plata on October 11,2008                                                    

A Few Tips about Guanajuato...

Use your ATM card to get money. ATMs are well placed about the city. You can go on line to find out exactly where they are. If you do bring USA dollars make sure they are pristine. Mexican banks won't take them if they are torn or have any marks or writing on them. I went to 4 different banks and ended up bringing unchangeable ones home.

Be prepared to see skinny dogs roaming about. This is one we named Tippy. My sister bought large bags of dog food and made up zip lock bags of it to carry in her purse. We saw Tippy just about every day in the Jardine. She would wag her tail and give a grateful glance up at my sister while she was chowing down. There is a volunteer organization (Amigos de las Animales)for working with the dogs, making cash donations for spaying and neutering, adopting or escorting the adoptive ones home to the States. If you are interested in more information and want to read their monthly news letter click here. See photos of Cullon Whites experience with volunteering( here ) for Amigos de las Animales. He is an amazing young man who is on the trip of a life time and blogging about every step of the way.

Always negotiate the fare with the taxi driver before entering the cab. The one time we didn't we were over charged. They are plentiful and very reasonable for the most part. The buses stop running in the late evening, exactly what time I don't know. It was 11:30pm when Sedora and I waited at a bus stop for a long time before a car full of guys informed us that the buses had stopped for the evening, now we understood why all the cabs were slowing down and looking at us.

If you do get sick (none of the people we met did, but my sister and I sure did) you may want to try what I learned from a gray pony tail guy with blue eyes that hangs out around the Jardine.  5 drops of iodine in a liter of water. I drank it and was better quickly, my sister didn't and she wasn't. Be sure to check this out with your doctor before you go.

I loved this place. They sold vegetables and caskets. Remember to always approach people with a greeting like good morning or good afternoon before you launch into your request for information. A warm smile and being polite goes a long way.

Next, where to get the best silver jewelry.

Hosteria del Frayle

The Hosteria Del Frayle is where we moved to after 2 weeks of school. We wanted to be near the night life of the Jardine. Our room was great and we were warned by the staff that it would be noisy and didn't we want a quieter room? Well it was noisy, but fun. There was a Karaoke bar across the street that was open all night. It was a nice change from barking dogs though.

The guide books would lead you to believe that there are 5 or 6 worthwhile hotels in Guanajuato, but the truth is there are 100s of places to bed down. From Hostels to B&Bs to apartments and houses for rent.

Even more Dia de Muertos

So one night Sedora and I jump on a bus that we thought would get us near the University. Upon seeing a traffic jam the driver turns and heads down a tunnel. We weren't sure where we were headed. There are 8 tunnels in Guanajuato and they are long and dark and often intersect with other tunnels.When we got off the bus I was completely lost. Sedora had a handle on it and knew what direction to go and we turned a corner to find trick or treaters and a market place set up to sell wreaths for the graves.

The next day Steph and I went to the cemetery.      

It was a little awkward , wanting to photograph the event while being respectful of the families that were there.   

   

          

There was music playing that sounded like it came from an organ grinder, children were playing and throwing rocks, a mass was being held at a small chapel, some people were sitting alone and some were crying .